Liquid hydrogen peroxide bleaches have been known for a considerable length of time, especially in the industrial processes of treating or bleaching fibers and cloth during manufacture. These stablized compositions are primarily 35%, 50% or 70% hydrogen peroxide solutions, a commercially available commodity. In order to utilize liquid hydrogen peroxide solutions as a general-purpose home laundry bleach, the concentrated hydrogen peroxide solutions must be diluted to lower strength, i.e., within the range of from 2-12% hydrogen peroxide.
Because of the nature of the hydrogen peroxide, it tends to be more stable in concentrated solutions than it is in more diluted solutions. There have been numerous attempts to prepare stable dilute liquid hydrogen peroxide bleaching compositions which contain dyes and/or optical brighteners plus other ingredients thought necessary to prepare a commercially acceptable household laundry product. An example is U.S. Pat. No. 3,970,575, which describes a hydrogen peroxide bleaching composition utilizing one specific dye and polyethylene oxide nonionic surfactants. The particular dye described in this U.S. patent appears particularly stable in the presence of hydrogen peroxide and does not react with hydrogen peroxide or catalyze the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide. As described in this patent, however, the use of this particular dye does create some difficulty as the dye is very substantive to fabrics requiring the use of certain nonionic surfactants to remove the same so that there is no build-up.